Essays Book 9: Of Tranquillity of Mind Audiobook (Free)

The ninth article from Lucius Annaeus Seneca. The work opens with Serenus asking Seneca for counsel, which obtain help takes the form of a medical assessment. Serenus clarifies that he feels agitated, and in a state of unstable immobility, ‘as easily were on the boat it doesn’t move forward and it is tossed about.’ Seneca uses the dialogue to address a concern that cropped up often in his life: the desire to have a life of contemplation and the need for active political engagement. Seneca about Essays Reserve 9: Of Tranquillity of Brain argues that the purpose of a tranquil mind can be achieved by being versatile and looking for a middle way between your two extremes.

Translation by Aubrey Stewart and produced by Vox Stoica

Seneca’s Essays Series:

1) Of providence – addressed to Lucilius

2) On the Firmness of the Wise Man – addressed to Serenus

3-5) Of Anger (Books 1-3) – addressed to his sibling Novatus

6) Of Consolation – addressed to Marcia

7) Of a Happy Life – addressed to Gallio

8) Of Leisure – dealt with to Serenus

9) Of Tranquillity of Brain – resolved to Serenus

10) Around the Shortness of Existence – resolved to Paulinus

11) Of Consolation – addressed to Polybius

12) Of Consolation – addressed to Helvia